# Who is this Scott person, and what's so great about him? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737 "2011-07-12T13:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/1 "2011-07-12T13:39:24Z")
I was watching “Back to the Future” with my daughter recently, and for the first time in my life I wondered: when people say “Great Scott!”, who are they referring to? Montgomery Scott? Scott Bakula? Or was the first person to say it enjoying a single malt and said “Great scotch” but slurred it? (mods, I debated whether to put this in Cafe Society, but since it’s a factual question I decided to put it here. Feel free to move it if I guessed wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/2 "2011-07-12T13:45:20Z")
As per wiki: [Great Scott - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Scott) > [@](#): > > The expression is of uncertain origin. It is believed to date back at least as far as the American Civil War, and may refer to the commander‑in‑chief of the U.S. Army, General Winfield Scott. The general, known to his troops as Old Fuss and Feathers, weighed 300 pounds (21 stone or 136 kg) in his later years and was too fat to ride a horse.[1] A May 1861 edition of the New York Times carried the sentence: > > ``` > These gathering hosts of loyal freemen, under the command of the great SCOTT. > > ``` > > In an 1871 issue of the Galaxy, there is: > > ``` > "Great—Scott!" he gasped in his stupefaction, using the name of the then commander-in-chief for an oath, as officers sometimes did in those days. > > ``` > > The phrase also appears in the 3 May 1864 diary entry by Private Robert Knox Sneden (later published as Eye of the Storm: a Civil War Odyssey): > > ``` > ‘Great Scott,’ who would have thought that this would be the destiny of the Union Volunteer in 1861–2 while marching down Broadway to the tune of ‘John Brown’s Body’.[1] > > ``` > > Another possible origin is people seeking to emulate the German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha altered and anglicized “Grüß Gott!”, or “God bless!” into “Great Scott!”. The etymologist and author John Ciardi once believed this, but later recanted in a radio broadcast in 1985. Despite that recantation, the expression is likely to be a minced oath: a mild substitute for invoking the name of God; very possibly derived from the phrase “[by the] grace of God”. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/3 "2011-07-12T14:04:57Z")
Nah, I’m pretty sure it comes from my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Angus McTorque. He was a great Scot. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/4 "2011-07-12T15:57:59Z")
Nah, it’s a reference to Talisker 10 Year, a great scotch. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/5 "2011-07-12T16:45:35Z")
No, it dates back to Ninth Century England, when the barons would be concerned about the King’s health. But it was illegal to speculate on the king’s health so a baron couldn’t openly say “Alfred the Great’s got a dose of the clap.” So “Great’s got” was adopted as a code phrase to avoid breaking the law. This phrase was transformed into “Great Scott” over the years. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/6 "2011-07-12T16:53:19Z")
That’s heavy! (Someone had to say it.) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/7 "2011-07-12T17:04:05Z")
As a matter of fact, he was so great the powers that be decided he really could do no wrong and so they gave him a get-out-of-jail card allowing him to always avoid prosecution and thus essentially remain, you know, Scot-free. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/8 "2011-07-13T00:19:12Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Nah, I’m pretty sure it comes from my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Angus McTorque. He was a great Scot. That’s what my History professor told me-all these years I thought he was joking! Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/9 "2011-07-13T00:43:49Z")
“Would ya’ do it for Randolph Scott?” “Randolph Scott?!” _ **♫ RAN-DOLPH SCOTT!! ♫** _ ---
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/10 "2011-07-13T10:57:10Z")
Baio, of course. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/11 "2011-07-13T12:06:54Z")
Scott Pilgrim’s pretty great. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/12 "2011-07-13T15:29:32Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That’s heavy! > [/SIZE] Weight’s not nothing to do with it! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-this-scott-person-and-whats-so-great-about-him/588737/13 "2011-07-13T15:32:48Z")
> [@phantom\_lamb](#): > > Baio, of course. Blah, blah, blah.